One Day, I Picked Up a Mom - Chapter 12

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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One Day I Picked Up a Mother – Episode 12

What could be the reason for moving to this dark room without a single servant?

Could it be that his words about helping me remember meant he intended to recreate that day’s events?

Was that why he deliberately sent Iban away, and why he found fault with me claiming not to remember when everything had already become certain?

Considering his reputation, it’s entirely possible…

“That Count…”

Swoosh—.

“How long are you going to stand there holding onto that door?”

He asked as he drew back the curtains that had been covering the large window and walked toward the couch.

Bookshelves filled with books and a large desk placed in the center of the room.

As sunlight poured in through the window, I could see at a glance the study that seemed long unused, with a faint smell of dust in the air.

“Ah…”

The Count sat down on the couch, and only then did I release my tight grip on the door and step inside.

Feeling awkwardly embarrassed as I hurried my steps, Count Roderich placed the brooch on the table.

He pushed the brooch slightly toward me as if telling me to sit across from him.

“Let’s begin.”

As soon as I took my seat, he spoke.

I hesitated for a moment before starting the story I had prepared in advance.

‘Above all, I never forget a woman I’ve held once, so I’m asking—did we really sleep together?’

What Count Roderich wanted to know when he said those words probably wasn’t whether we had really been intimate.

It was more likely a question born from curiosity about how he became involved with me, Iban’s mother.

Things like what my status was, how I came to meet him.

Thinking of Iban, I wanted to hide the fact that I was a prostitute forever, but even if I did, the Count could easily discover the truth if he set his mind to it.

So I honestly confessed everything.

The story ended quite briefly.

“…I’ve had this brooch since then.”

A story I couldn’t remember at all, probably nothing special.

“So did I give this to you?”

At the Count’s question, I looked down at the brooch. Either he had given it to me, or I had stolen it.

It was a brooch that looked expensive at first glance.

Seeing that Count Roderich didn’t remember me clearly meant we weren’t a special connection.

Was he the type to casually give expensive brooches even to women he’d slept with just once?

I didn’t know much about Ludrio. So rather than making poor guesses…

“You dropped it, and I kept it.”

At those words, Roderich’s head tilted to the side.

“From what I hear, it seems I didn’t tell you much about myself back then.”

He stared at me intently as if seeking confirmation, and I quietly nodded.

Iban had told me we should go find his father.

A father who was a noble and wealthy.

That was all the child knew about his father.

So it was fair to say I knew almost nothing about the man I’d spent that night with either.

‘Let’s go to our dad. We agreed to go before, didn’t we?’

That’s why I hadn’t been able to find Count Roderich until now.

“But how did you find me? How did you know I was the owner of this brooch?”

Count Roderich seemed unable to easily accept this situation.

His tone and expression hadn’t changed from the beginning, but was it because I kept lying?

My heart was beating faster and faster, and now even my hands were trembling.

“Well…”

I tried to continue speaking, but my voice cracked terribly from nervousness.

“Ahem—.”

Roderich watched me silently while I cleared my throat and composed myself again.

Feeling the silent pressure, I opened my mouth once more.

“On our way to the capital, the child dropped the brooch in the river.”

Fortunately, from here on I didn’t need to make up any more stories, so my trembling heart gradually calmed down.

The day we left our village and came up to the capital.

The carriage we took briefly stopped at Brunheim Station around late lunch time.

‘We’ll eat here and depart again. Just return here by three o’clock.’

At the coachman’s words, Iban and I also found a suitable restaurant and strolled through that city.

During this, Iban shook my hand anxiously.

‘Mother, you brought the brooch, right? Show it to me once.’

Iban extended his thin arm as if asking me to place it in his hand.

I stopped briefly and handed the brooch to the child. The child stared at the brooch in his hand for a long time.

‘Now I can meet Dad, right?’

Perhaps finally realizing he could meet his father, the child was jumping with joy when it happened.

Iban bumped into someone coming from behind and ended up dropping the brooch.

The child’s jumping, bumping into the person behind him, and the dropped brooch rolling through the bridge gaps and falling into the river—it all happened in an instant.

Iban turned pale and apologized profusely.

‘What do we do now? We need to go meet Dad…’

Saying that without the brooch we couldn’t go meet him anymore, that we’d never be able to find his father, he moistened his large eyes.

Wanting to leave our crumbling house, wanting to live a protected life unlike before.

Iban cried sadly, wanting a father he didn’t even know.

“That’s when I learned this brooch belonged to House of Roderich.”

We searched that river for quite a long time trying to find the brooch.

Though it was a shallow river that came up to about knee-deep, finding the brooch wasn’t easy.

Thanks to this, our stay in what we thought would be a brief stop in the city became considerably longer.

Later, a patrol officer even stopped us, saying we were ruining the city’s scenery and if we really wanted to search, to do it only after sunset.

Still, some people from Brunheim who heard our situation helped us.

They either entered the river with us or lit up the dark water with lamps.

“The person who was beside us the day we found the lost brooch told us. He was someone who had worked at a jewelry shop for a long time.”

The man who told us this brooch belonged to House of Roderich was also from that city.

Unlike the others, this man stayed by our side until the end.

Even when everyone else gave up and stopped coming after we couldn’t find the brooch no matter how much we searched the river, only he kept coming with his lamp to help us search.

‘…It’s a brooch from House of Roderich. A brooch that Count Ludrio has carried since he was very young. A gift from his parents. …If you go to Jubileum, the capital’s jewelry shop, they’ll confirm it for you.’

Briefly recalling the man who was quiet and blunt but kind, I hurried to finish my words.

“He said if we went to Jubileum, the capital’s jewelry shop, they would confirm it more accurately.”

I suddenly thought that the man who helped us in Brunheim resembled Count Ludrio a bit.

He wore a robe and it was a dark evening, so I never properly saw his face.

But his large build and jet-black hair gave off a similar feeling.

“That’s how I found out.”

Having finished my story, I carefully raised my head.

And Count Roderich, whom I faced again…

His gaze felt somehow chilling, making my shoulders shrink involuntarily.

“Well, what a remarkable coincidence.”

Tilting his head slightly, he offered a brief commentary.

“…Pardon?”

“Truly amazing, I’d say.”

The Count, who had settled deep into the couch, looked me over once more with his slow gaze.

Was it because he had lived his entire life as a noble?

He seemed like an observer. Like someone who didn’t care how this situation unfolded.

His rigidly set lips, cold eyes, and emotionless tone.

At first, Ludrio had seemed to show interest in us, but had his interest waned in that brief moment?

Why….

Perhaps because he was no longer smiling, his atmosphere seemed to have become much more desolate.

“…Your Grace. The child has missed his father terribly.”

Anxious about Ludrio’s attitude that seemed ready to throw us out at any moment, I opened my mouth without permission.

The cold air felt like it was choking my throat, but if we were to be driven away like this, I could clearly imagine how heartbroken Iban would be again, and I couldn’t just stand by.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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